Pales­tinian at­tack­ers killed as they tried to stab sol­diers in West Bank

JERUSALEM — The Is­raeli mil­i­tary says three Pales­tini­ans bran­dish­ing knives rushed at troops in the West Bank, prompt­ing the sol­diers to open fire, killing two of them. The third at­tacker was wounded and taken to hos­pi­tal. The army says the at­tack took place on Thurs­day evening at the Gush Etzion junc­tion near Jerusalem. The area has been a fre­quent tar­get for Pales­tinian at­tack­ers lately. Near daily Pales­tinian at­tacks on Is­raeli civil­ians and sol­diers have killed 21 Is­raelis, mostly in stab­bings, shoot­ings and car-ram­ming as­saults. At least 134 Pales­tini­ans died by Is­raeli fire, in­clud­ing 93 said by Is­rael to be at­tack­ers. The rest were killed in clashes with troops. Is­rael says the blood­shed is fu­eled by a Pales­tinian cam­paign of in­cite­ment. Pales­tini­ans say it stems from frus­tra­tion at decades of oc­cu­pa­tion.